by Robert Clark
An unspoken consensus agreed, and together we turned and stormed up the mountain. The fresh midday air fuelled us like coal to a steam train, and we surged onwards, fires burning to the maximum. Even Noble, who by all accounts should have struggled with the excursion was up at the front, running unaided by her colleagues. Her eyes caught mine and, while I was by no means her comrade, she flashed a confident smile.
The mouth of the cave came into sight. The guards I had duped on my last visit were gone, but as we drew closer, I saw why. Banded together with at least ten other heavily armed goons, they were all standing with their backs to the cave entrance, weapons pointed at the elevator. Practically begging us to beat them. But not entirely stupid. They were spaced out across the cave, covering a one-hundred and eighty degree arch for anyone coming up and out of the elevator. Some had found space behind cover, others had unintentionally positioned themselves at an angle so that we couldn’t open fire on them. And of course, there could be more, hidden from our sight.
That fact hit the three Feds at the same time. We could take out a lot of them, but not all. Not with certainty.
Their formation was not the only change to the cave. Of the vehicles I had seen previously, only two trucks remained. They had been repositioned to be closer to the elevator, with a row of five jeeps lined up ahead of them. I had an idea.
‘Wait a minute for me to get into position, then get in that jeep over there,’ I whispered, pointing to the one closest to us. ‘Get ready to go on my signal.’
‘What’s the signal?’ asked Miles.
‘You’ll know it when I give it.’
Without giving them the chance to object, I backed off from our position and darted down to the trees. Using their density to my advantage, I snaked my way through and around to the far side of the cave entrance, and hustled back up the hill to the spot adjacent to where the agents waited. They watched me the whole way. I gave them the thumbs up and sneaked inside.
Two more guards were hidden at an angle unforeseen from the other side of the cave. Neither watched me, but their presence was a problem. They were spaced apart by ten feet. Far enough to not be bunched together. Close enough to hear if I tried to take one of them down.
I crept forwards as quietly as I could. The group was not waiting in absolute silence, but not far off. They muttered to each other, no doubt having had to wait a considerable time. No alarm sounded up here, but it was audible down the elevator shaft. I just hoped it was loud enough for what I needed.
I spied my target to the right. Five metal barrels, all aged and worn with rust, sat side by side along the cave wall. Carefully, I eased off my bag and pulled out the screwdriver before I crept closer. The nearest guard was standing with his back to the barrels, but he was only a few feet away. Silence was paramount. With glacial speed, I inched closer and closer, eyes split between my destination and the guard. He didn’t see me coming, such was his concentration on the task at hand. When I was in range of the barrel, I checked it over for a particularly worn down spot, and eased in the screwdriver.
Creating a hole without making a sound was not a simple task. The shaft of the screwdriver scratched against the rusted metal, making a noise that was just a little too audible to keep my heart from exploding. Slowly, I worked the tool back and forth, back and forth, exacerbating the weakness in the metal until…
A small, black droplet oozed out of the wound and trickled down the side of the barrel. I checked the guard didn’t have some kind of superhuman ability to smell petroleum. If he did, he was keeping remarkably cool. I forced the screwdriver deeper. Widened the hole. More fluid emerged. The smell grew a little stronger. Still nothing from the guard. Screwdriver deeper. Hole wider. Fluid faster. Smell stronger. Guard none the wiser.
When the hole was big enough, I pulled out the screwdriver and backed away. The pool of petrol grew wider. The hole looked like a gunshot wound, bleeding precious fluid out onto the stone.
Hard part done. Now for the loud part.
I looked around for something to use, but the contents of the cave were hardly the easiest place to explore with so many armed guards about, any of whom could turn around as spot me any moment. I retreated away from the spill and made my way back to the trio of agents.
‘Is this the signal?’ asked Noble as I crept within whisper-range of them
‘No,’ I said. ‘Do any of you have a lighter?’
Three shakes of the head. Shit.
‘No flares hiding up your arse? Whyte, you look like the type who’d be into that.’
‘Screw you, asshole,’ he whispered. I saw another lump of gum moving between his teeth. I suppressed the urge to punch him in the mouth. Then a thought came to me.
‘Do you have the wrapper for your gum?’
He eyed me with suspicion, then shook his head.
‘You got another stick of gum you can give me?’ I asked.
He pulled out a slip and handed it over. I took the gum out of the wrapper and threw it on the ground. He slapped me on the arm and picked it up.
‘Just needed the foil,’ I said. ‘Now, give me your torch.’
‘Why?’ he snapped.
‘Does everything have to be such a fucking issue with you, or can you follow an order once in your life?’
He scowled, but did as asked, unclipping the attachment from the top of his MP5. I took it and removed the battery. Perfect. I passed him back the torch.
‘Be ready,’ I said. ‘This won’t take long.’
Aware I was already on borrowed time with the petrol spill, I hustled as quietly back as I dared while Miles, Whyte and Noble climbed into the jeep. Miles at the wheel, Noble by his side, and Whyte burning eyes into my back.
As I moved, I used my forefingers to tear the gum wrapper so that the middle was about a quarter as thick as either end. It was fiddly, but not impossible with just my fingers. As I slid back into position next to the much wider pool of gasoline, I placed the bottom end of the wrapper onto the battery’s anode. I chanced one final look around to make sure no one had a weapon pointed at my head, then I pressed the top of the foil wrapper against the battery’s cathode.
It didn’t take long. Seconds at best. The battery current supercharged the foil. Not a problem for the thicker ends, but all that energy bottlenecked at the thin centre of the foil, and it started to heat up.
I dropped the makeshift device the moment a flame rose up. It didn’t matter about making noise now. I just needed to get away from there fast.
The guard heard the slap of my boots on the stone floor and turned around. He saw the flame licking the puddle, and suffered a second’s delay as he realised what the smell that greeted his nostrils was, then another as he shit himself.
Thirty-Five
The Great Escape
I felt the heat of the fire on my back almost instantly, such was the volatility of the fuel. As it grew in size, the flames sucked in all the oxygen it could, vivacious fingers reaching high inside the cave to snatch the precious substance. Thick, toxic clouds of black smoke billowed out, consuming everything in its reach. The stench of it was nauseating, but it wasn’t my problem for long.
I leapt into the jeep. Wheels spinning.
‘Floor it!’ I shouted.
Miles didn’t need telling twice. The jeep lurched forwards as the flurry of guards hastened to extinguish the flames. Bouncing down onto the track, the tyres slid on the packed snow, and turned sideways. Miles fought for control, and as the plucky little vehicle got traction and shot ahead, I felt the heat of an intense fire rage behind me.
The explosion was no joke. The shock-wave sliced through snow topped trees, shaking their white coat loose. The sound of ignited petroleum exploding up and out and everywhere shattered the stillness and cascaded out far and wide. Whyte looked at me in horror.
‘That was your idea of a distraction?’ he yelped.
‘Two birds, one stone,’ I replied, not taking my eye off the road ahead. ‘It gives us a chance to
escape, and puts one hell of a dent in their attack plans.’
Miles laughed.
‘Good thinking,’ he cheered. ‘In another life, you’d have made a hell of an agent.’
‘Don’t get your hopes up,’ I replied. ‘I’m just good with explosions.’
The jeep bucked and weaved down the icy track. Miles held it on the straight and narrow, doing the best he could in the circumstances, which were about to get a whole lot worse.
I spotted them first. Dozens upon dozens of armed militia were amassing at the gates of Second Solace. Not only that, but the survivors of the explosion above had already begun to retaliate. Bullets whizzed through the air around us and, as I turned to look, I saw that most of the vehicles inside had survived unscathed. Three jeeps were already out on the track, their passengers armed to the teeth.
‘So much for stealth,’ barked Noble.
Miles pulled free his MP5 and handed it to her. She took it and, without warning, began firing back up the mountain at our pursuers. Whyte joined in, returning the volley of fire that cascaded around us. I ducked down and shouted to Miles.
‘What do we do now?’
‘I say we go left and try to smash the wall,’ he said, eyes fixed on the road ahead. ‘They won’t have built it to stop vehicles.’
‘That’s a lot riding on luck.’ I said.
‘By all means, go out and ask if we can use the front gate,’ he shouted back. ‘You’ve got all the time in the world.’
‘What about the mines?’ I asked, looking at the route he was intending to take. The boulders would be problem enough.
‘Quit it with the mines,’ shouted Whyte. ‘That’s a myth. No way they planted them out there.’
‘You better be right.’ I replied, not sharing his confidence.
Miles swung the jeep around the bend, leaving us with only the final, long stretch down to the gate. At least thirty armed people stood between us and freedom. Even if we weren’t going right their way, their bullets had no problem making up the difference.
Miles pushed the jeep harder, the momentum gained from a pencil-straight shot down the hill taking us closer and closer to triple digits. And yet, it didn’t seem like enough. A quick glance behind told me the others were gaining in on us. Their near incessant gunfire may be poorly aimed for now, but with every foot they closed the gap, the better their chances of a hit.
I willed the jeep onwards. Whyte and Noble had slowed their fire, taking only considered pot shots as and when they could. Ammo was not on our side. The end of the trees was coming at us fast.
The jeep broke through the tree line and Miles swung the vehicle hard to the left as the mass of armed militia at the gate squeezed their triggers. The noise was almost indescribable. Thirty people all raining hellfire down on our position sounded less like the life-threatening cacophony it was, and more like close, foreboding thunder.
The jeep ducked past the first round of bullets, using the boulders for protection. But their proximity forced Miles to stomp on the brakes. The jeep skidded and, with Miles powerless at the wheel to control, it began to skid out of control. I saw the boulder a split second before we collided. I felt my body eject from the pin-wheeling vehicle, and smash into something solid.
Then there was nothing but blackness.
The sound of gunfire kick-started my brain. I opened my eyes and saw only snow. I lifted myself up, feeling extreme pain in my head and chest as I did so. Something warm trickled down my face. Blood. As I reached up to feel for the wound, I noticed another deep slice running down my left forearm. There was a cut the size of a penny sat atop a golf ball of a bruise right where my hair line started to recede. As my fingers brushed over it, I felt nauseous.
‘Nobody move,’ shouted a high, shrill voice that I immediately recognised as Cece. I turned and saw her and her small army approaching us across the boulder field. Their movements were slow and cautious.
I glanced around and saw Whyte lying by the wreckage of the jeep, which had come to a standstill on its side up against another boulder, shielding him from the approaching threat. Noble was on her back in the snow a couple of feet from me, with Miles face down in the snow between her and Whyte. None of them were moving.
I rolled onto my back and shuffled behind the nearest rock. I could hear the sound of idling engines close by. The sky was too bright and my whole body hurt and I could taste a lot of blood in my mouth.
To my right, Noble groaned and moved. She looked left and saw me, then looked around for the others.
‘Jonah,’ she gasped as her eyes fell on Miles.
Miles made a noise that sounded like a harrumph and brought his hands up to his face.
‘What happened?’ he groaned, but as he went to sit up, one of Cece’s crowd fired again.
‘I knew you weren’t to be trusted,’ Cece howled. ‘I knew you would bring destruction to our homestead. I will take great joy in hurting you, snake.’
‘We need to move,’ I muttered to Noble, who was now looking at Whyte.
Whyte was awake, and seemed the least affected of our sorry bunch. His MP5 was still slung over his shoulder and, as he inched to the corner of the upturned jeep, he brought it up and ready. He caught Noble’s eye and mouthed something to her that I didn’t catch. She nodded her head a fraction, and drew the attention of Miles. I saw her raise three fingers, then count down to one.
As the final finger dropped, Whyte swung out of cover and opened fire on the hostiles. I saw Cece and her number duck, but they didn’t scatter, and a second after he had started shooting, they were returning fire.
Noble and Miles were up on their feet, running for cover further back. Not wanting to sacrifice myself to their cause, I pushed off my boulder and darted for one further away. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted the break in the fence we had used earlier. Maybe eighty yards away. We could make it.
Whyte ducked back behind cover. Both Noble and Miles were unarmed, and my bag had gone flying in the crash. All I had was the empty pistol stuffed into the back of my trousers. Realising he wasn’t going to get any covering fire of his own, Whyte propped himself up like an Olympic sprinter, and after a deep breath, he launched forwards.
He made it three steps in total. His foot sunk into the fresh snow, but instead of hitting dirt, the sole of his boot found something different. Something foreign. Perhaps some part of his mind registered the mistake as the plate pressed down on the firing pin, igniting the fuse, but not fast enough for him to do anything about it. As the charge detonated, all six foot and two hundred pounds of former federal agent exploded in a mass of dirt. There one moment. Gone the next. The proximity of the explosion to the jeep was the poor vehicle’s last straw, and before the dust could settle on what had once been Agent Kayden Whyte, the fuel tank of the jeep ignited.
There was no reason to check if he had survived. The landmines he laughed off were not messing around, and his death was all the distraction we were going to get.
I ran from boulder to boulder, terrified of every single step. Noble and Miles were close behind, unable to mourn their fallen comrade unless they wanted a hasty reunion. I tried to remember my previous path, but the shock of the situation robbed me of any sense, so I just kept moving and hoping my luck had not yet run dry.
I made it to the gap in the fence and heaved myself through as Cece’s team recovered and restarted their assault. Bullets ricocheted off the wall they fought so hard to protect, but as Noble and the Miles climbed through, the onslaught ceased once more.
‘Kayden,’ breathed Miles, his face as gaunt as Noble’s.
‘No time for that,’ I ordered. ‘We have to keep going.’
‘Where?’ asked Noble. ‘They’ve got everywhere covered.’
She was right. Cece’s lot would make it across Second Solace much faster than we would, and crossing the threshold had locked us into a decision we could not reverse. My mind flashed to the cave Fenwick had shown me, but getting inside would be tricky with everyone o
n high alert. What we needed was a double bluff.
‘Follow me,’ I said, heading into the trees with a plan in mind.
Noble and Miles followed. Our wounds were many, but the adrenaline kept us from paying them too much attention. Blood trickled down into my eye, but I wiped it away and kept going. Head wounds bled a lot, but it was a lot of fuss for nothing. It wouldn’t get me down today.
I spotted Gail’s house through the trees and tried to remember the path I’d taken a week previously. Instead of heading towards the main cluster of the settlement, I cut back, darting between the buildings towards a destination that was as much a gamble as anything I’d done before.
There were people everywhere. Armed men and women fanned out, searching for us. I spotted a group of seven ahead, and stopped beside a two-storey house. Before anyone could spot us, I dropped down and crawled underneath the supports. The ground was waterlogged and filthy. Mud seeped into my wounds and flecked my face. Behind me, I heard Noble groan from the excursion. Months of captivity combined with a botched escape were taking their toll on her. Beside her, Miles was struggling too. With his partner eviscerated, and the rush of adrenaline subsiding, he was feeling the full force of the trauma.
I tried to keep my mind off it. I didn’t like Whyte, but the sight of him exploding had not been a pretty one. The shock-wave felt fresh on my skin. The image all too real. I shook the thought loose like cobwebs and watched the boots of the advancing group as they shuffled on by.
‘We need to call for backup,’ said Miles. His voice was hoarse and tight. The dam of emotion was cracking.
‘Do you have a phone?’ I asked him.
He shook his head.
‘Kayden had the satellite phone in his coat,’ he said, eyes vacant as he relived the moment again.
‘We’ll worry about that later,’ I said, trying to snap him out of it. ‘We need to keep moving. We can’t stay here forever.’